This invention relates to a fold conditioner and method and, more particularly, to fold conditioning a continuous business form web having longitudinally-extending control punch margins and equally longitudinally-spaced apart lines of transverse perforation.
This invention is an improvement on U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,454 which had to do with a job separator. The job separator eliminated the need for inserting a tab in the output zig-zag folded stack and also had the advantage of providing substacks with "first page up".
Part of the job separator of the '454 patent included softening means for subjecting the web prior to folding to a braking force to stretch the web and bend the same so as to facilitate subsequent folding.
The instant invention goes the other way and avoids stretching of the web incident to prefolding or conditioning and employs an array of rollers forming a serpentine path, some of the rollers being driven at least faster than the line speed of the web. This has resulted not only in significantly increased performance but substantial savings. Quite a number of job separators according to the '454 patent have been sold and the relatively simple device for softening had to be removed or bypassed and a folder costing upwards of $50,000 installed in its place. Now that substantial expenditure is avoided by the practice of the invention.
Other objects and advantages of the invention may be seen in the details of the ensuing specification.